Apple announced the release of the first iOS 4.2 beta for iPhone, the iPad and the iPod touch today. The update - the first version of iOS 4 that can be run on all devices -includes the AirPrint wireless printing framework that was introduced at the 4G iPod touch rollout earlier this month. AirPrint, which lets iOS devices print over WiFi to compatible printers, will be available to all iOS devices when 4.2 is released in November. Apple also says that the upgrade will be free for all devices.

AirPrint, according to Apple's press release, "automatically finds printers on local networks and can print text, photos and graphics to them wirelessly over Wi-Fi without the need to install drivers or download software." The framework requires printer manufacturers to build AirPrint support into their printers, though, and as of today only HP’s ePrint enabled printers - such as the HP Photosmart, Officejet, Officejet Pro and LaserJet Pro series - will work. iOS 4.2 devices will eventually be able to print to a variety of wireless printers, as well as ones that are shared through a Mac or a PC.

The update, which will also allow Fast App Switching "multitasking" on the iPad for the first time, will be free to all iPad users. However, it may be the last free update: Apple's iPad licensing agreement promises free updates only "up to and including the next major iPad OS software release following the version of iPad OS software that originally shipped from Apple on your iPad. However, the agreement warns, "such updates and releases may not necessarily include all of the new software features that Apple releases for newer iPad models." Thus, an original iPad may not necessarily have - for example - FaceTime support, even with an external camera, even if the next generation iPad has such support, as has been rumored. Reason #164,256 to jailbreak…

However, it may be the last free update: Apple's iPad licensing agreement promises free updates only "up to and including the next major iPad OS software release following the version of iPad OS software that originally shipped from Apple on your iPad. However, the agreement warns, "such updates and releases may not necessarily include all of the new software features that Apple releases for newer iPad models."

i yust installed this update a couple of hours ago and it works great!!! Anything works (for now) and the Graphics performance is about 20-30 percent better than 3.2.2 ( framerate in Epic Citadel is much higher, the game is almost silky smooth now!! ).

i yust installed this update a couple of hours ago and it works great!!! Anything works (for now) and the Graphics performance is about 20-30 percent better than 3.2.2 ( framerate in Epic Citadel is much higher, the game is almost silky smooth now!! ).

Great update!!

Yeah.
Contrary to most everyone's rave reviews of Epic Citadel / ipt3,
I found it to be mildly interesting (as a 3D platform) but sluggish and with pretty icky render artifacts.

The release notes say "Much improved performance on 4.0+" so I've wondered if it really does look better, feel better under 4.x.

Has anyone else compared Epic Citadel on both 3.x and 4.x, on the same (or equivalent) hardware?

This is all great, but in order to print the printer must be WiFi capable and support AirPrint. This is a very limited scope. I can't understand why the iPhone doesn't support Windows printing via Samba.

The iPhone uses a lite version of the Mac OS X's BSD Unix environment. Why can't the iPhone print to Windows printer shares like the Mac OSX can?

"When I die, I want to go peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather did...not kicking and screaming like the passengers in his car." -- Unknown